^ 


i-^ 


■  V 


PRCXBLEMS^  OF    YhE    CITY. 


nv^ 


No.    Ill 


Xhe  Bii^le  in  Schools. 


W.    W.    EVERTS,    D.D 


CHICAGO  : 

KENXEY  &  SUMNER,  PUBLISHERS 

Xo.  no  Dearborn  Street. 

1870. 


ORJCAL  SURVEY 


PROBLEMS    OF    THE    CITY. 


No.   Ill 


The  Bible  in  Schools, 


W.    W.    EVERTS,    D.D. 


CHICAGO : 

KENNEY  &  SUMNER,  PUBLISHERS, 

No.  no  Dearborn  Strebt. 

1870. 


PROBLEMS    OF   THE    CITY. 


The  first  three  numbers  of  the  series  are  now  published. 

The  appearance  of  "Bible  in  Schools"  may  not  appear  inap- 
propriate to  this  series  if  it  is  considered  that  cities  will  be  the 
scene  of  the  School  controversy. 

The  chief  problems  of  human  welfare  and  destiny  are  reached, 
and  pressed  for  solution,  in  cities, 

I.    Theater ;  or.  Popular  Amusements. 

II.    Temptations  of  City  Life. 

III.  The  Bible  In  Schools. 

IV.  Social  Position  and  Influence  of  Aggregated  Populations. 
V.     Principles  and  Frauds  of  Commerce. 

VI.  Responsibilities  of  Service ;  or,  Employers  and  Employed. 
VII.     Power    and     Responsibility   of    the    Press,    especially 

Journalism. 
VIII.     Sphere  and  Influence  of  Fine  Arts. 
IX.     Charity;  its  Claims  and  True  Methods. 
X.     The  Sabbath ;  Its  Restoration  and  Promise. 
XI.     Christian  Profession ;  its  Purity  and  Perils. 
This  series  of  publications  will  be  pursued  as  suitable  contri- 
butions are  offered,  and  encouragement  warrants. 

KENNEY  &  SUMNER, 
no  Dearborn  Street,  Chicago. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

W.    W.    EVERTS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District 

of  Northern  Illinois, 


£vS5t 


THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


THE   WORD    OF   GOD. 

DivmE  thought  or  will  expressed  is  the  word  of 
God.  Repeated  and  multiplied  expressions  of  Divine 
will  grew,  necessarily,  into  a  body  of  sacred  traditions, 
or  holy  writings.  The  prophets  accepted  the  histories 
and  laws  of  Moses  as  the  word  of  God.  Christ  came 
not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill  the  law  and  the  prophets. 
By  frequent  allusions,  he  recognizes  the  Divine 
authority  and  universal  obKgation  of  this  collection 
of  sacred  writings. 

The  supremacy  of  Christ  attests  the  supreme  author- 
ity of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  completed  in  the  record 
of  his  life  and  doctrines.  In  them  is  closed  up  the 
canon  of  Divine  revelation.  Miracles  performed, 
prophecies  fulfilled,  their  beneficent  influence,  self- 
evidencing  power  and  wonderful  preservation,  together 
with  testimony  of  the  wise  and  good,  proclaim  these 
sacred  writings  the  book  of  God,  and  the  god  of  books. 
Already  the  sacred  book  of  the  master-races,  it  is  des- 
tined to  become  the  sacred  book  of  all  the  world. 


4  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

But,  should  this  book  continue  to  hold  the  place 
assigned  to  it  by  our  fathers  in  public  education  ? 

COVENANTS    OF   THE    PAST. 

As  source  of  distinguishing  and  formative  elements 
and  traditions  of  the  Republic,  the  Bible  should  be 
recognized  and  honored  in  public  education.  All 
society  is  established  on  some  system  of  fundamental 
opinions,  giving  scope  to  thought  and  feeling,  con- 
science and  duty,  usage  and  law.  These  antecedent 
judgments,  traditions,  and  customs,  in  the  origin  of 
states  are  incorporated  into  law  and  order.  They  are 
the  inspiration  of  patriotism,  and  heroic  spirit,  cher- 
ished by  the  eloquence  and  minstrelsy  of  bards,  till 
moulded  into  institutional  forms.  They  are  a  law  of 
national  development  and  obligation.  The  great 
English  orator  and  statesman,  Burke,  declares  that 
"this  great  law  does  not  arise  from  conventions* and 
compacts.  On  the  contrary,  it  gives  to  conventions 
and  compacts  all  the  force  they  have.  It  does  not 
arise  from  our  own  institutions,  but  from  the  will  of 
God,  revealed  in  the  order  of  Providence,  out  of 
which  they  were  formed  —  their  source  and  superior 
in  authority." 

This  law,  interpreted  and  sanctioned  by  religion, 
has  shaped  the  civilization  and  enforced  the  political 
institutions  of  all  ages.  In  Buddhism,  it  gave  force  to 
the  political  institutions  of  China  and  Japan,  and 
assured  the  veneration  and  loyalty  of  countless  mil- 
lions of  subjects.  In  the  Yeda  and  Koran,  it  has 
moulded  states  and  empires,  given  permanence  to 
their  civilization  and  sanction  to  their  laws. 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  6 

In  the  Bible,  it  has  imparted  new  forms  of  law  and 
order  to  the  nations  of  Europe.  In  freer  and  more 
distinctive  operation,  it  has  determined  the  civilization 
and  political  institutions  of  our  Kepublic. 

All  that  is  different  from  the  civilization  of  Asia 
and  Europe  is  traceable  to  the  character  of  om*  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  their  open  Bible,  and  purer  Christianitj. 

"  "What  sought  they  thus  afar  ? 
Bright  jewels  of  the  mines  ? 
The  wealth  of  seas,  the  spoils  of  war  ? 

They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine  ! 
Freedom  to  worship  God." 

What  brought  they  thus  afar  ?  Highest  Christian 
manhood,  enthusiasm  for  civil  and  religious  liberty  — 
a  holy  book  —  a  holy  day  —  a  holy  faith  —  a  holy 
brotherhood  —  equality  before  God  —  belief  in  the 
spiritual  nature  and  destiny  of  man  —  and  the  divine 
sanction  of  virtue.  These  new,  all-pervading  elements 
of  our  civilization  are  the  only  philosophical  explana- 
tion of  its  superiority  and  promise  —  the  mould  in 
which  the  state  was  cast  —  the  die  that  has  given 
expression  to  national  character,  and  designated  us,  in 
the  language  of  history  and  the  speech  of  the  world, 
a  Christian  nation.  A  late  historian  of  morals  declares 
"  Christianity  is  the  most  powerful  lever  ever  applied 
to  the  affairs  of  men."  "  ^o  other  religion  has  ever 
combined  so  many  distinct  elements  and  attractions." 
Unlike  Judaism,  stoical  philosophy,  and  the  religions 
of  Egypt,  "  it  united  with  its  distinctive  teachings  a 
pure  and  noble  system  of  ethics,  and  proved  itself 
capable  of  realizing  it  in  action." 

Edward  Everett,  in  an  address  before  the  Bible 


6  THE   BIBLE   IN   SCHOOLS. 

Society,  with  equal  explicitness,  declares  that  all  the 
distinctive  features  and  superiority  of  our  civilization 
and  republican  institutions  are  derived  from  the  teach- 
ings of  Christianity;  that  our  purer  law  and  order 
are  the  exponents  of  our  holier  religion,  as  the  low 
condition  of  the  population  of  India  is  of  the  inferior 
faith  of  the  Koran  and  Yeda.  Entrusted  with  this 
mission  of  freedom,  shall  we  go  back  to  the  Egypt  of 
political  bondage,  or  follow  guiding  pillars  of  Provi- 
dence to  the  Canaan  of  the  world's  political  aspiration 
and  destiny.  There  must  be  limits  to  the  right  of 
the  present  to  reverse  the  order  of  the  past.  There 
is  a  popular  fallacy,  derivable  from  an  ignorant  or 
narrow  interpretation  of  our  famous  proclamation, 
that  government  is  derived  from  the  sense  of  the  gov- 
erned. It  is  a  great  truth,  asserted  of  the  accumu- 
lated experience  and  enlightened  sense  of  the  age, 
interpreting  the  obligations  of  former  traditions,  exist- 
ing laws,  and  providential  directions  ;  but  a  dangerous 
sophism  affirmed  of  the  superficial  judgment  of  a 
generation  deriding  old  landmarks,  swayed  by  the 
passion  of  the  hour,  eager,  aspiring,  self-sufficient. 
The  voice  of  the  people  should  be  heard  above  the 
utterance  of  ruler,  cabinet,  or  court ;  but,  while  they 
may  be  authoritative  interpreters,  there  is  a  law  immu- 
table, an  obligation  imperative,  and  this  is  the  voice 
of  God  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  idea  that  current  opinion,  or  capricious  popular 
judgment,  and  not  the  wisdom  of  ages,  is  the  sole 
arbiter  of  law,  would  make  law  and  order  impossible. 
Law  cannot  delay  its  sanction  and  penalties  till  men 
in  each  generation  deliberate  and  accept  its  jurisdic- 


THE   BIBLE   IN    SCHOOLS.  7 

tion.  The  Divine  appointment  of  the  Sabbath  law 
was  not  delayed  until  the  race  experienced  its  necessity 
and  voluntarily  chose  its  authority.  It  did  not  grow 
out  of  their  spiritual  culture  and  choice,  but  to  pro- 
mote and  assure  that  culture.  So,  the  Decalogue  was 
not  adjusted  to  existing  moral  judgments  and  volun- 
tary requirements  of  the  Hebrews,  but  to  correct  those 
judgments  and  elevate  moral  character  and  aims. 
And  so  the  majesty  of  law  does  not  submit  its  authority 
to  the  voluntary  approval  of  each  generation  before 
enforcing  its  claims.  It  is  not  at  the  option  of  each 
generation  rising  to  intelligence  to  accept  or  not  the 
order  of  Providence,  constitution  and  government. 
Or  then  would  order  be  impossible,  anarchy  universal, 
the  race  no  wiser  than  a  generation  or  individual. 

While  Paganism,  Mohammedanism,  Papacy,  work 
out  the  problem  of  their  civilization,  shall  Christianity 
be  denied  the  methods  and  instruments  for  accom- 
plishing her  mission  ?  Paganism  has  made  India  and 
China  what  they  are  in  the  characters,  habits,  and 
hopes  of  the  people.  Papacy  has  made  Italy,  Spain 
and  Mexico  just  what  they  are  in  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion, and  bad  government.  Christianity,  with  its  open 
Bible,  has  made  the  sentiments,  principles,  usages, 
law  and  order  of  the  Republic,  what  they  are. 

Shall  our  holiest  traditions  be  ignored  in  educa- 
tion ?  Shall  the  life-blood  of  the  state  be  obstructed 
in  its  circulation  ?  Shall  the  tree  of  political  insti- 
tution be  girdled,  or  removed  from  native  and  con- 
genial soil  to  accursed  ground  of  atheism  or  false 
religion,  to  wither  and  die  ?  Shall  the  temple  of  lib- 
erty be  unsettled  from  its  providential  foundations,  to 


8  THE   BIBLE   IN    SCHOOLS. 

fall  into  ruins  at  the  first  shock  of  revolutionary  vio- 
lence, or  the  first  storm  of  political  agitation  ? 

RELIGION    ALWAYS   A   PART    OF   EDUCATION. 

The  incorporation  of  religion  in  the  education  of 
all  lands  and  ages  requires  the  continuance  of  the  Bible 
in  our  schools. 

The  call  of  Abraham;  the  exodus  from  Egypt; 
the  law  given  from  Sinai ;  providential  deliverances 
through  the  wilderness ;  covenants  of  promise  and 
prophecies  of  the  coming  Messiah,  were  taught  in  all 
the  education  of  the  Hebrews,  in  every  period  and 
opportunity  of  instruction.  In  Egypt,  Greece,  and 
Kome,  supernatural  histories,  religious  sanctions,  and 
ideas  of  the  gods,  were  blended  in  all  forms  of  public 
instruction.  Bedagata  and  Yeda  are  treasures  of 
thought  and  sentiment,  and  source  and  standard  of 
public  education  of  China,  Japan,  and  Hindostan. 

Throughout  the  wide  domain  of  Islam  the  Koran 
is  the  chief  text-book  in  all  schools. 

Papacy  questions  the  utility  of  any  education  without 
religion.  In  Protestant,  as  well  as  Catholic  countries, 
religious  instruction  is  connected  with  every  school 
system.  In  Prussia,  instruction  is  given  in  "the 
Bible,  and  the  Catechism,  in  the  positive  truths  of 
Christianity."  In  Austria,  it  is  "based  on  religion 
and  governed  and  moulded  by  the  state."  Switzerland, 
France,  Holland,  provide  for  and  require  religious 
training. 

Lord  Brougham,  in  judicial  decision  upon  the  school 
system  of  England,  declared  "  courts  of  equity  in  this 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  9 

country  will  not  sanction  any  system  of  education  in 
wliicli  reliction  is  not  included."  In  foundins:  Harvard, 
Yale,  and  other  American  colleges,  the  propagation 
of  Christianity  as  a  leading  purpose  of  higher,  as  well 
as  of  popular  education,  was  avowed  by  their  founders, 
and  by  all  provisions  and  grants  of  government. 

Thus,  in  all  nations  and  ages,  and  all  forms  of  faith 
and  civilizations,  religion  is  recognized  as  a  necessary 
part  of  public  education.  An  order  so  universally 
observed  must  be  an  order  of  nature  —  a  law  of  God. 

As  judgment  of  the  race  against  lying,  stealing, 
adultery,  attests  the  judgment  of  God,  so  universal 
recognition  of  vital  relations  of  religion  to  education 
attests  natural  and  binding  law. 

The  fanaticism  branding  what  is  universal  as  false ; 
what  mankind  cling  to  as  arrant  imposture  ;  and  hold- 
ing only  that  true  which  is  blasphemous ;  the  highest 
wisdom  the  widest  dissent  from  the  judgment  of 
mankind ;  and  the  most  manly  independence  contempt 
for  truth  and  duty  —  would,  of  course,  scorn  the 
authority  of  this  universal  precedent.  Following  its 
instincts,  we  might  cast  away  our  hats,  so  commonly 
worn ;  refuse  to  sleep,  eat,  or  walk  —  such  vulgar 
exercises !  protest  against  the  order  of  the  seasons 
and  the  law  of  gravitation,  ignorant  masses  so  obse- 
quiously conform  to ! 

As  mankind  have  believed  ideas  of  the  supernatural 
the  atmosphere  of  great  thought,  lofty  sentiment  and 
ennobling  aspiration  in  popular  education,  we  should 
at  once  and  forever  discard  such  ancient  and  common- 
place notions ! 

As  religion  has  been  enforced  as  a  necessary  part  of 
1^ 


10  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

education,  in  all  lands  and  ages,  it  ouglit,  according 
to  this  philosophy,  to  be  wholly  divorced  from  the 
schools  of  this  enlightened  age ! 

Let  not  the  Republic  be  misled  by  this  mania  for 
reform,  and  venture  upon  the  odious  singularity,  the 
exceptional  impiety,  the  profane  experiment,  of  divor- 
cing religion  from  popular  education.  Especially  let 
it  not  be  betrayed  into  this  experiment  in  defiance  of 
organic  law  and  constitutional  provisions,  venerable 
precedent,  and  the  enlightened  public  opinion  of  the 
country,  by  adventurous  politicians,  instigated  by  a 
revolutionary  infidelity  and  a  despotic  hierarchy,  owing 
no  allegiance  to  the  country,  while  plotting  for  the 
overthrow  of  our  free  education  and  our  free  institu- 
tions. 

COMMON   LAW   RECOGNIZED   IN   EDUCATION. 

As  a  part  of  tlie  common  law,  Christianity  should 
constitute  a  part  of  the  common  education. 

As  there  can  be  no  religion  without  some  form  or 
symbol  of  worship,  appeal  to  religious  sanctions,  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  of  the  States,  in  the  charter  of  the 
E'orthwestern  Territory,  in  provisions  for  education, 
endowments  of  charitable  and  reform  institutions,  and 
in  the  constitution  of  legislative  assemblies  and  courts, 
is  manifestly  an  appeal  to  the  Christian  Scriptures,  as 
the  accepted  form  and  law  of  religion,  brought  to  the 
new  world  by  the  framers  of  the  Republic,  cherished 
in  the  homes  of  the  Colonists,  and  revered  throughout 
the  land  as  the  word  of  God.  This  interpretation  is 
made  certain  by  the  history  of  the  Government.    Ap- 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  11 

pealing  to  religion,  in  oaths  of  office,  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate, members  of  Cabinet,  members  of  Congress,  and 
of  the  Judiciary,  governors,  legislators,  and  other 
officials  of  the  States,  are  sworn  upon  the  Bible,  the 
source  of  these  religious  sanctions.  Witnesses  before 
courts  deliver  their  testimony  upon  the  authority  of 
the  same  holy  book.  In  providing  for  religious  instruc- 
tion in  the  army  and  navy,  in  reform  schools  and 
prisons,  copies  of  the  Scriptures  are  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  teachers  of  religion.  The  Bible  was  the 
symbol  of  religion  recognized  by  our  fathers,  and 
incorporated  into  the  forms  of  education,  and  the 
sanctions  of  law  and  order.  They  did  not  recognize 
Koran,  Veda,  Bedagata,  Age  of  Reason,  book  of  Pos- 
itive Philosophy,  as  equal  to  the  Bible.  Such  an 
attempt  would  have  awakened  universal  dissatisfaction, 
if  not  universal  indignation  throughout  the  colonies. 
Always  and  everywhere  declaring  that  "religion, 
morality,  and  kno^vdedge  are  essentially  necessary  to 
good  government,"  they  referred  to  the  teachings  and 
authority  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  as  the  religion, 
and  consequently  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  land. 
As  Yeda  and.  Koran  enter  into  the  common  law  of 
the  nations  of  the  East ;  particular  forms  of  Christian- 
ity into  the  political  constitutions  of  Europe,  Christian- 
ity itself,  the  purest  law,  the  highest  standard  of 
religion,  the  formative  element  of  national  character, 
the  holiest  tradition  of  our  ancestors,  must  be  accepted 
as  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  Republic.  What 
more  effective  rules  of  common  law  obtain  than  the 
family  order,  the  Decalogue,  and  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount?     All  legislation  is  held  amenable  to  these 


12  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

institutes  of  Christianity.  No  statute  contrary  to  them 
would  be  constitutional.  Blackstone  declares  "  Chris- 
tianity is  part  of  the  common  law  of  England." 

For  the  same  reasons  of  tradition,  popular  faith, 
recognized  sanction,  assimilating  power,  enforced  use, 
it  must  be  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the  Republic. 
Thus  Judge  Story,  in  commenting  upon  the  Constitu- 
tion, declares,  "  It  is  impossible  for  those  who  believe 
in  the  truth  of  Christianity  as  a  Divine  revelation,  to 
doubt  that  it  is  the  special  duty  of  government  to  fos- 
ter and  cherish  it  among  all  the  citizens  and  subjects." 
At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  he 
adds,  "  The  attempt  to  level  all  religions,  and  to  make 
it  a  matter  of  State  policy  to  hold  all  in  utter  indiffer- 
ence, would  have  created  universal  disapprobation,  if 
not  universal  indignation." 

Webster  says,  "  There  is  nothing  we  look  upon  with 
more  certainty  than  this  principle  —  that  Christianity  is 
the  law  of  the  land.  This  was  the  case  among  the 
Puritans  of  'New  England,  the  Episcopalians  of  the 
Southern  States,  the  Pennsylvania  Quakers,  the  Bap- 
tists, the  mass  of  the  followers  of  Whiteiield  and 
Wesley,  and  the  Presbyterians.  All  brought,  and  all 
have  adopted,  this  great  truth,  and  all  have  sustained 
it.  And  where  there  is  any  religious  sentiment  among 
men  at  all,  this  sentiment  incorporates  itself  with  the 
law.     Everything  declares  it. 

"  The  generations  which  have  gone  before  speak  to 
it,  and  pronounce  it  from  the  tomb.  We  feel  it.  All, 
all,  proclaim  that  Christianity,  general  tolerant  Chris- 
tianity, Christianity  independent  of  sects  and  parties, 
that  Christianity  to  which  the  ^word  and  fagot  are 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  13 

unknown,  general  tolerant  Christianity,  is  the  law  of 
the  land." 

Judge  Duncan,  of  Pennsylvania,  says  :  "  Chris- 
tianity is  and  always  has  been  part  of  the  common 
law." 

In  the  constitutional  convention  of  Xew  York,  such 
men  as  Chancellor  Kent,  Chief  Justice  Spencer,  Rufus 
King,  and  Martin  Yan  Buren,  agreed  that  "  the  Chris- 
tian religion  was  engrafted  upon  the  law,  and  entitled 
to  protection  as  the  basis  of  our  morals  and  the  strength 
of  our  government."     Dr.  Hodge  says  : 

"  This  country  is  a  Christian  and  Protestant  country, 
granting  universal  toleration  ;  i.  e.^  allowing  men  of 
all  religions  to  live  within  our  borders,  to  acquire  pro- 
perty, to  exercise  the  rights  of  citizens,  and  to  conduct 
their  religious  services  according  to  their  own  convic- 
tions of  duty.  Turkey  is  a  Mohammedan  state,  grant, 
ing  a  very  large  measure  of  toleration  to  men  of  other 
religions.  Most  of  the  governments  in  Europe  are 
Roman  Catholic  states,  granting  little  or  no  toleration 
to  Protestants.  Sweden  is  a  Protestant  state,  allowing 
freedom  of  action  only  to  the  Lutheran  Church.  What 
is  meant  by  all  this  ?  It  means  that  in  Turkey  the 
religion  of  Mohammed  is  the  common  law  of  the  land  ; 
that  the  Koran  regulates  and  determines  the  legisla- 
tive, judicial  and  executive  action  of  the  government. 
1^0  law  in  the  country,  which  does  violence  to  Chris- 
tianity, can  be  rightfully  enacted  by  Congress,  or  by 
any  State  legislature.  jSTo  judicial  decision,  inconsis- 
tent with  the  Bible,  can  be,  according  to  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land,  or  morally,  obligatory." 

The  manner  in  which  the  Bible  has  incorporated 


14  THE    BIBLE    IN   SCHOOLS. 

itself  into  the  national  character,  and  hence  into  the 
common  law  of  this  Protestant  country,  is  forcibly  de- 
scribed by  a  Roman  Catholic  writer.  Dr.  ^^ewman  : 
"  Who  will  not  say  that  the  uncommon  beauty  and 
marvelous  English  of  the  Protestant  Bible  is  not  one 
of  the  great  strongholds  of  heresy  in  this  country  ?  It 
lives  on  the  ear  like  music  that  can  never  be  forgotten ; 
like  the  sound  of  church  bells  which  the  convert  hardly 
knows  how  he  can  forego.  Its  felicities  often  seem  to 
be  almost  things  rather  than  mere  words.  It  is  part  of 
the  national  mind,  and  the  anchor  of  national  serious- 
ness. The  memory  of  the  dead  passes  into  it.  The 
potent  traditions  of  childhood  are  stereotyped  in  its 
verses.  The  power  of  all  the  griefs  and  trials  of  man 
are  hidden  beneath  its  words.  It  is  the  representative 
of  his  best  moments,  and  all  that  has  been  about  him 
of  soft,  and  gentle,  and  pure  and  penitent  and  good, 
speaks  to  him  out  of  his  English  Bible.  It  is  his 
sacred  thing,  which  doubt  has  never  dimmed  and 
controversy  never  soiled.  In  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land  there  is  not  a  Protestant  with  one  spark  of 
religiousness  about  him,  whose  spiritual  biography  is 
not  in  the  Saxon  Bible." 

Can  the  Bepublic,  in  the  process  of  education,  vitiate 
its  life-blood  and  retain  political  health  ?  Will  she  cast 
away  the  strong  rod  and  beautiful  staif  on  which  she 
has  leaned  coming  up  out  of  political  bondage  ?  Will 
she  discard  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  of  lire  which  has 
guided  her  march  through  the  wilderness  of  political 
experiment,  and  grope  after  the  precedents  of  extinct 
nations,  or  the  promise  of  visionary  reformers  ? 

To  escape  the  obligation  of  Christianity  as  part  of 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  15 

the  common  law,  and  the  consequent  duty  of  teaching 
it  in  education,  we  must  ignore  our  traditions,  revise 
our  constitution  and  laws,  unmake  our  history,  defy  the 
precedents  of  all  lands  and  ages,  and  repeat  the  French 
experiment  of  political  atheism.  Majorities  have  no 
right  to  subvert  foundations  of  government  and  hurry 
nations  to  destruction  ! 

Laws  may  be  derived  from  the  sense  of  the  governed 
in  interpreting  and  applying  existing  obligations,  not  in 
setting  them  aside.  The  sense  of  the  governed  is 
always  of  higher  authority  in  interpreting  law  and 
order  than  the  capricious  or  selfish  judgment  of  rulers. 
But  the  sense  of  rulers  or  ruled,  capriciously  or  hastily 
formed,  can  no  more  set  aside  the  order  of  civil  gov- 
ernment than  the  law  of  gravitation,  order  of  the 
seasons,  or  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  !  These  are 
above  people  and  rulers,  interpreted  and  operative 
through  the  course  of  events  and  existing  institutions. 
Could  the  "sense  of  the  governed"  deny  rights  of 
property,  displace  family  order,  blot  out  the  Decalogue, 
or  set  aside  the  Divine  sanction  of  government  ?  Only 
the  irreligious  fanaticism  that  rejected  Christ  can  plot 
against  the  ascendency  of  Christianity  over  public 
opinion,  education,  and  the  law  and  order  of  the 
Eepublic.  Ignored  in  education,  Christianity  is 
dethroned  before  the  people. 

RELIGION    FORMATIVE    PROCESS    IN    EDUCATION. 

The  necessity  of  religious  ideas  and  sanctions  to 
the  normal  process  of  education  requu-es  the  presence 
of  the  Bible  in  school. 

The  period  of  education  is  the  period  of  the  plasticity 


16  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

of  elements  of  character.  Education  is  the  process  of 
moulding  these  elements.  Conducting  that  process  in  the 
absence  of  religious  ideas  and  obligations,  so  essential  to 
the  symmetry  and  expression  of  true  ijianhood,  is  like 
casting  metal  into  a  defective  mould.  In  hardening,  the 
casting  must  retain  that  defective  type.  'No  supplement- 
ary process  can  remedy  it.  Education  is  the  coinage  of 
national  character.  Any  form,  feature,  or  expression 
of  beauty  attained,  must  be  represented  on  the  die 
when  the  plastic  character  is  subjected  to  it.  Shall  the 
die  remain  blank  ?  Shall  it  bear  the  cold,  distrustful 
exjDression  of  scepticism  and  atheism,  or  the  divine 
image  of  faith  and  virtue  ? 

Education  is  making  and  stereotyping  national  his- 
tory. After  the  edition  is  published,  errata  pages,  with 
whatever  pains  and  expense  introduced,  imperfectly 
amend  the  reading.  Every  thought  and  sentiment 
necessary  to  complete  history,  must  be  incorporated  in 
setting  up  type  and  making  up  pages  in  education. 

The  influence  of  religion  in  education  does  not 
depend  so  much  upon  the  amount  of  instruction,  as  on 
its  vital  relation  and  formative  power.  Oxygen  is  but 
a  fifth  of  the  volume  of  atmosphere,  but  it  is  the  vital- 
izing element,  nourishing  the  life  and  vigor  of  the 
breathing  world.  Eemove  the  oxygen,  and  man  and 
beast  would  perish  in  the  unvitalized  air. 

Take  relio^ious  thouo:ht,  sentiment  and  sanction  from 
the  atmosphere  of  education,  and  conscience  and  char- 
acter would  become  enervated,  and  the  race  demoral- 
ized —  animalized  ! 

In  the  photographic  process  of  education,  light 
must  fall  upon  the  object  from  above,  and  not  from 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  17 

beneath.  As  well  expect  good  pictures  from  tlie  flick- 
ering radiance  of  a  smoking  lamp,  as  resplendent 
character  from  the  uncertain  illumination  of  mere 
secular  education. 

All  social  and  political  virtues  must  effloresce  from 
religious  faith. 

In  his  farewell  address,  Washington,  contemplating 
the 'very  spii'it  and  class  of  opinions  now  disturbing 
the  country  in  the  school  question,  warned  his  country- 
men against  the  delusion  that  moral  virtues  can  be 
trusted  to  any  basis  except  that  of  profound  religious 
convictions.  "  Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits 
which  lead  to  political  prosperity,  rehgion  and  moral- 
ity are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that 
man  claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor 
to  subvert  these  great  pillars  of  human  happiness,  the 
purest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The 
mere  poHtician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to 
respect  and  cherish  them.  A  volume  could  not  trace 
all  their  connections  with  private  and  public  felicity. 
Whatever  may  be  conceded  to  the  influ- 
ence of  refined  education  upon  minds  of  a  peculiar 
structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  ex- 
pect that  national  morality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of 
religious  principle." 

And  Webster  says  :  "  Our  ancestors  established  this 
system  of  government  on  morality  and  religious  senti- 
ment. Moral  habits,  they  believed,  cannot  safely  be 
trusted  to  any  other  foundation  than  religious  prin- 
ciples, nor  any  government  be  secure  which  is  not 
supported  by  moral  habits." 

Horace  Mann,  never  suspected  of  sectarianism,  says : 


18  THK  BIBLE  IN  SCHOOLS. 

"All  intelligent  thinkers  npon  the  subject  now  utterly 
discard  and  repudiate  the  idea  that  reading  and  writ- 
ing, with  a  knowledge  of  accounts,  constitute  educa-  ^ 
tion.  The  lowest  claim  which  any  intelligent  man 
now  profess  in  its  behalf  is,  that  its  domain  extends 
over  the  three-fold  nature  of  man — over  his  body, 
training  it  by  the  systematic,  and  intelligent  observ- 
ance of  those  benign  laws  which  secure  health,  impart 
strength  and  prolong  life ;  over  his  intellect,  invigorat- 
ing the  mind,  replenishing  it  with  knowledge,  and 
cultivating  all  those  tastes  which  are  allied  to  virtue ; 
and  over  his  mind  and  religious  susceptibilities  also, 
dethroning  selfishness,  enthroning  conscience,  leading 
the  affections  outwardly  in  good  will  towards  man, 
and  upward  in  gratitude  and  reverence  to  God. 
The  whole  form  and  constitution  of  the  soul  show 
that,  if  man  be  not  a  religious  being,  he  is  among  the 
most  depraved  and  monstrous  of  all  possible  existences. 
His  propensities  and  passions  need  the  fear  of  God,  as 
a  restraint  for  evil ;  and  his  sentiments  and  affections 
need  the  love  of  God  as  a  condition,  and  preliminary 
to  everything  worthy  of  the  name  of  happiness.  With- 
out a  capability,  therefore,  of  knowing  and  venerating 
his  Maker  and  Preserver,  his  whole  nature  is  a  contra- 
diction and  solecism  ;  it  is  a  moral  absurdity,  as  strictly 
go  as  a  triangle  with  two  sides,  or  a  circle  without  a 
circumference,  is  a  mathematical  absurdity." 

Lowering  the  aims  of  education  from  developing  a 
true  manhood,  and  shaping  character  and  habits  to 
familiarity  with  textr-books  of  science,  artH,  and  history, 
is  as  degrading  as  to  sink  them  from  intellecttuil  cul- 
ture and  acquisition  of  knowledge  to  gymnastic  train- 


THE    BIBLE   IN   SCHOOLS.  19 

ing.  It  is  no  justification  of  the  dissociation  of  religion 
from  education  by  the  state,  that  the  family  and  the 
church  can  supply  spiritual  culture. 

As  we  have  shown,  the  religious  spirit  and  appeal 
should  pervade  the  whole  period  and  process  of  educa- 
tion. Whenever  and  wherever  it  is  left  out,  the  culture 
must  be  incomplete,  and  the  type  of  character  formed 
defective.  Besides,  when  the  dissociation  is  ordered 
by  the  state,  there  is  judgment  against  religion.  It  is 
declared  to  be  unnecessary,  superfluous.  And,  if 
there  can  be  a  school  without  God,  there  may  be  a 
state  without  God ! 

But  to  repudiate  the  Bible  now,  to  remove  it  from 
its  time-honoored  place  in  our  educational  system,  is 
an  act  of  deeper  significance  than  could  have  been  its 
omission  in  the  beginning  of  our  existence.  Infidelity 
must  see  in  this  a  national  judgment  against  Chris- 
tianity. To  the  world,  by  such  an  act,  we  say,  "  Reli- 
gion is  no  longer  important  to  the  state ;  it  is  passing 
away  with  the  darkness  of  ages.  The  Republic  has 
outgrown  her  faith !" 

While  the  state  furnishes  all  deemed  important  to 
citizenship  —  wealth,  honor,  oflice  —  why  should  more 
be  sought  ? 

If  the  state,  with  her  vast  prestige,  endowments, 
and  superior  opportunities,  educates  irreligiously,  the 
church  can  accomplish  the  moral  and  spiritual  educa- 
cation  of  a  people  only  by  perpe'ual  miracle.  Under 
pretence  of  avoiding  sectarianism,  the  state  would  prac- 
tice atheism. 

Declaring  its  education,  and  law  and  order  complete 
without  religion,  its  authority  and  example  promote 
irreligion. 


20  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

Mere  tolerance  is  contempt.  Indifference  is  re- 
proach. 

CONTROVEESIES. 

As  the  progress  of  religion  against  the  atheism,  im- 
piety, and  depravity  of  the  race,  awakens  differences, 
discussions,  and  antagonisms  among  men,  it  is  sagely 
proposed  to  end  and  avoid  these  conflicts  forever  by 
outlawing  religion.  Because  the  sun,  m  the  glare  of 
day,  sometimes  pains  weak  eyes,  bakes  bad-conditioned 
soil,  and  disturbs  bats  and  owls,  the  glorious  orb  must 
be  removed  from  its  sphere,  and  the  radiance  that 
lights  up  the  universe  extinguished  in  universal  and 
eternal  night. 

BIBLE   SECTARIAN. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  Bible  is  sectarian,  to  justify  its 
removal  from  schools  !  Is  the  great  sun  sectarian  that 
shines  only  for  the  worlds  in  its  own  system  ?  Is  the 
atmosphere  sectarian  because  it  nourishes  only  those 
forms  of  life  tenanting  its  sphere  ?  Is  truth  sectarian 
because  it  displaces  all  propositions  of  error  ?  Then  is 
the  Bible  sectarian  !  It  may  be  sectarian  as  is  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Republic — framed  for  the  defence  of  lib- 
erty and  the  rights  of  men — and  proscribing  all  political 
injustice.  Its  precepts  and  promises  are  for  all.  It  admits 
of  no  caste  or  classes  of  privilege.  "  It  is,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  impossible  that  there  should  be  more  than 
one  religion.  If  any  specific  propositions,  or  set  of 
propositions,  with  reference  to  our  unseen  relations,  be 
true,  any  other  proposition,  or  set  of  propositions  cov- 
ering the  same  ground,  must  be  false.  If  Christianity 
be  true,  it  is  not  a  religion,  as  it  is  sometimes  called 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  21 

but  religion.  If  Judaism  also  be  true  it  is  so,  not  as 
distinct  from,  but  as  coincident  with,  Christianity — 
the  one  religion,  to  which  it  can  bear  only  the  relation 
borne  by  the  part  to  the  whole.  If  there  be  portions 
of  truth  in  other  religious  systems,  they  are  not  por- 
tions of  other  religions,  but  portions  of  the  one  religion, 
which  somehow  became  incorporated  with  fables  and 
falsities."  If  sectarian,  what  sect  does  the  Bible  pat- 
ronize ?  what  exclude  ?  Some  would  do  away  with 
religion  to  avoid  sectarianism.  Like  preventing  the 
evils  and  perils  of  life  by  terminating  life  itself,  or 
doing  away  with  the  evils  of  mankind  by  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  race. 

CHUECH   A]SrD    STATE. 

"  Church  and  state  "  has  been  the  war-cry  of  party, 
and  served  to  discredit  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  schools. 
The  objection  to  the  union  of  church  and  state  is  not 
undue  importance  awarded  to  religion  by  it,  but  the 
curtailed  freedom  of  other  faiths  unnecessarily  con- 
nected with  it.  While,  as  a  pervading  element  in 
common  and  organic  law,  Christianity  is  a  part  of  the 
state  —  constituting  in  a  general  sense  union  of  church 
and  state.  The  tolerance  of  all  other  religions  takes 
away  that  diBtinctive  order  of  "  church  and  state  "  so 
justly  odious  to  freemen  over  the  world. 

Repeated  against  the  religious  order  of  our  schools, 
this  cryjiiay  mislead  the  prejudiced  and  unthinking, 
as  the  cry  "Democracy"  has  betrayed  the  masses 
into  the  surrender  of  their  dearest  rights  and  the  over- 
throw of  free  institutions.  To  avoid  church  and  state, 
these  reformers  would  drive  religion  out  of  the  state. 


THE   BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 


Shying  like  the  blind  horse  from  one  side  of  the  bridge, 
they  would  plunge  off  the  other  into  the  abyss  of 
atheism ! 


BILLS   or    RIGHTS. 


Provisions  of  bills  of  rights,  declared  by  general 
and  state  governments,  are  fallaciously  applied  as  for- 
bidding religious  teaching.  The  exception  is  made  to 
set  aside  the  rule.  The  law  is  made  nugatory  under 
pretence  of  defining  its  terms.  Constitutions  and 
courts  are  stultified  by  reversing  all  their  provisions. 
The  words  or  purport  of  all  specifications  in  these  bills 
"  not  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  conscience,"  were 
designed  to  guard  against  sectarian,  not  religious 
teaching  ;  to  prevent  tyranny  of  sects,  not  the  ascend- 
ancy of  Christianity ;  to  prevent  education  of  parti- 
sans at  public  expense,  not  Christians.  It  is  a  lying 
interpretation,  that  makes  the  laws  of  the  land  indif- 
ferent to  religion  —  go  back  upon  the  general  sense 
of  mankind,  the  religious  character  of  the  education  of 
all  lands  and  ages,  and  symbolize  with  atheism  and 
infidelity. 

They  all  assume,  as  in  the  law  of  Ohio,  "  religion, 
morality  and  knowledge  being  essentially  necessary 
to  good  government,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools  and  the  means  of  instruction  shall  be  encour- 
aged by  legislative  provision," — religion  and  morality 
to  be  as  clearly  contemplated  and  provided  for  as 
knowledge,  in  founding  schools. 

ENFORCED  TAX. 

Again:   it  is  an  alleged  grievance  that  some  are 
xed   to   sa23port   a  school  system  whose  order  of 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  23 

instruction  they  do  not  approve.  Admitting  this  plea, 
how  shall  we  answer  those  who  would  object  to  the 
expensive  buildings  and  appointments  of  our  city 
schools  ?  or  others  who  might  condemn  all  outlay  for 
musical  culture?  or  still  other  cavilers,  who  should 
censure  the  prominence  given  the  languages  ?  Allow 
these  strictures,  and  you  open  the  gates  to  a  torrent  of 
ignorant  and  prejudiced  criticism,  which,  at  flood-tide, 
would  dismantle  the  stately  structure  which  is  now 
our  national  boast,  destroy  the  only  institution,  which, 
the  outgrowth  of  our  republic,  stands  singly  the  expo- 
nent of  our  sacred  theories. 

OPPRESSION  OF  CONSCIENCE. 

It  is  also  alleged  that  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  public 
schools  is  an  oppression  of  conscience.  Right  of  con- 
science is  a  legal,  reasonable  right,  not  the  caprice  of 
individuals,  or  the  pretense  of  the  designing  and  sel- 
fish ! 

Is  the  moral  sense  of  a  people  to  rule  the  policy  of 
government,  or  the  misguided,  fanatical  notions  of  a 
few  ?  Was  the  Repubhc  sacrificed  to  the  deluded 
conscience  of  the  rebellion  ?  Shall  the  sacred  law  of 
marriage  yield  to  the  debauched  conscience  of  Utah  ? 
Shall  license  be  yielded  to  the  conscience  of  the  liquor 
traffic  ?  Shall  law  and  order  be  universally  surren- 
dered to  the  low  moral  sense  of  the  lawless  ?  Is  not 
the  conscience  of  the  many,  demanding  catholic  reli- 
gious instruction,  to  be  respected,  as  well  as  the  cavils 
of  the  few  ?  On  pretense  of  conscience,  no  one  can 
oppose  the  public  welfare,  or  the  proper  education  of 
our  children.     That  they  are  not  compelled  individu- 


24  THE   BIBLE   IN   SCHOOLS. 

ally  to  read  or  hear  Scripture  lessons,  or  be  present  at 
forms  of  worship,  is  all  that  can  be  awarded  to  weak 
consciences  led  by  a  designing  priesthood. 

A  prescribed  order  of  moral  and  catholic  religious 
instruction,  can  no  more  interfere  with  individual 
rights,  than  the  prescribed  order  of  science  and  litera- 
ture, school  service  and  order  of  instruction  and  les- 
sons. Subjection  itself  is  not  oppression,  else  all  gov- 
arnment  is  oppression.  Subjection  to  the  family  order 
ennobles  ;  subjection  to  the  law  and  order  of  the  state 
dignifies ;  subjection  to  the  cardinal  principles  of 
moraUty  and  reHgion,  as  embodied  in  the  Scriptures, 
elevates  ;  at  once  the  highest  freedom,  virtue,  and  wel- 
fare of  the  race.  Is  it  oppression  to  require  those 
becoming  citizens  to  abjure  aU  other  pohtical  alle- 
giance, and  come  under  the  national,  state,  and  muni- 
cipal laws  of  the  country  %  Bishops,  priests  and  Jesu- 
its, owing  allegiance  to  a  foreign  power,  claiming  it 
as  their  mission  to  overthrow  our  institutions,  and 
denying  our  right  to  exist,  continue  to  assail  our 
schools. 

The  Tablet  for  l^ovember  13,  1869,  a  Eoman  Cath- 
ohc  paper,  says:  "The  Protestant  may  have  state 
schools  or  godless  schools,  if  he  wants  them ;  but  as 
we  cannot  in  conscience  send  om*  children  to  them,  to 
be  equally  free  with  Protestants,  the  state  must  either 
not  tax  us  at  all,  or  give  us  our  proportion  of  the  money 
raised,  to  be  expended  in  schools  under  the  control  of 
the  church.  Protestantism  is  born  of  hatred  of  God,  a 
revolt  against  Christ  and  his  church,  and  would  have 
to  abdicate  its  own  nature  not  to  seek  to  deprive  Cath- 
olics of  their  religious  freedom,  and  to  suppress,  by  aid 


THE   BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  25 

of  the  state,  the  church  of  God.  The  very  breath  of 
their  life,  the  very  reason  of  their  being,  is  hostile  to 
her,  because  she  is  faithful  to  Christ,  and  cherishes  his 
meek  and  lowly  spirit.  How  hollow,  then,  and  hypo- 
critical must  be  all  their  professions  of  religious  lib- 
erty! She  represents  God  on  earth;  they  represent 
Satan  and  the  world,  and  how  can  they  be  otherwise 
than  at  enmity  with  her  ?  We  are  in  this  country  the 
asserters  and  defenders  of  the  rights  of  God,  and  we 
shall  assert  and  defend  them  by  all  lawful  means  to 
the  full  extent  of  our  power,  without  their  leave  or 
license." 

The  same  paper,  of  December  25,  says :  "  We  de- 
mand of  the  state,  as  our  right,  either  such  schools  as 
our  church  will  accept,  or  exemption  from  the  school 
tax.  If  it  will  support  schools  by  a  general  tax,  we 
demand  that  it  provide  or  give  us  our  portion  of  the 
public  fimds,  and  leave  us  to  provide  schools  in  which 
we  can  educate  our  children  in  our  own  religion,  under 
the  supervision  of  our  own  church.  We  hold  educa- 
tion to  be  a  function  of  the  church,  not  of  the  state ; 
and,  in  our  case,  we  do  not,  and  will  not,  accept  the 
state  as  educator." 

The  Freeman's  Journal  of  ITovember  13,  says: 
"  Education  is  not  the  work  of  the  state  at  all.  It  be- 
longs to  families,  and  should  be  left  to  families,  and  to 
voluntary  associations.  The  school  tax  is  in  itself  an 
unjust  imposition." 

The  Tablet  for  November  29,  says :  "  The  system 

of  common  schools,  as  now  adopted  in  this  country,  is 

in  the  main  an  imitation  of  the  system  decreed  by  the 

Convention  which  sentenced  Louis  XYI.  to  the  guil- 

2 


26  THE   BIBLE   IN    SCHOOLS. 

lotine,  abolished  Christianity,  and  declared  death  an 
eternal  sleep.  The  object  of  the  Convention  was,  by 
a  system  of  godless  schools,  to  root  out  religion  from 
the  French  mind,  and  to  train  up  the  French  youth  in 
absolute  ignorance  or  unbelief  in  any  life  beyond  this 
life,  and  any  world  that  transcends  the  senses.  If  we 
adopt  and  carry  out  the  same  system,  our  American 
youth  must  grow  up  thoroughly  unbelieving  and  god- 
less, as  the  order  of  the  Cincinnati  Board  of  Education 
directly  foreshadows.  Catholics  will  do  well  to  be  on 
their  guard  against  forming  alliances  to  help  them  get 
rid  of  one  evil  by  fastening  on  the  country  another 
and  infinitely  greater  evil — ^the  very  evil  the  forever 
infamous  Convention  sought,  with  devilish  ingenuity, 
to  fastem  on  France." 

The  Freeman'' s  Journal^  December  11,  says :  "  Let 
the  public  school  system  go  to  where  it  came  from — 
the  devil.  "We  want  Christian  schools,  and  the  state 
cannot  tell  us  what  Christianity  is." 

DISASTROUS    ISSUE. 

Urged  on  behalf  of  catholic  religion,  this  movement, 
if  it  succeeded,  could  eventuate  only  in  godless  anar- 
chy or  papal  tyranny. 

In  denial  of  Bible  and  religious  observance,  what  is 
now  charged  would  more  surely  be  believed,  that  it 
is  a  "  godless  school."  The  present  objection  of  the 
principal  class  of  opposers,  would  be  indefinitely 
broadened  and  intensified.  The  majority  of  Protest- 
ants would  then  fall  in  with  the  objection,  and  our 
school  system,  failing  of  the  public  confidence,  would 
at  length  be  given  up  —  the  very  end  desired  by  the 
principal  party  in  this  movement. 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  27 

Then  the  pubKc  money  must  be  given  to  support 
sectarian  schools,  or  we  must  fall  back  upon  the  un- 
aided parish,  or  papal  schools  of  the  old  world.  And 
the  Roman  schools,  cheapened  by  free  labor  of  priests 
and  nuns,  already  drawing  from  Protestant  families  so 
large  and  respectable  patronage,  would  become  the 
schools  of  the  country,  and  the  education  of  Italy, 
Austria,  Spain,  and  Mexico,  be  inaugurated  in  the 
Republic ;  and  papacy,  through  ignorance,  indiffer- 
ence, and  political  intrigue,  become  the  dominant 
faith. 

The  Catholic  Review  says :  "  Protestantism  of 
every  form  has  not,  and  never  can  have,  any  right, 
where  Catholicity  is  triumphant." 

The  Bishop  of  Pittsburgh  says  :  "  Religious  liberty 
is  merely  endured  until  the  opposite  can  be  carried 
into  effect  without  peril  to  the  Catholic  world." 

The  Archbishop  of  St.  Louis  says  :  "  If  the  Catho- 
lics ever  gain  —  which  they  surely  wiU  —  an  immense 
numerical  majority,  religious  freedom  in  this  country 
will  be  at  an  end."  Said  a  Romish  priest,  when  com- 
menting upon  the  losses  of  the  church  in  Italy,  "  We 
can  afford  to  let  the  rags  of  Italy  go  into  the  hands  of 
Garibaldi,  when  we  are  taking  possession  of  the  United 
States."  An  Italian  paper  says,  "  The  Roman  Court 
expects  to  be  able  to  control  the  American  Republic," 
At  a  meeting  of  Roman  Catholics,  held  in  iJ^Tew  York 
last  year,  and  representing  all  parts  of  the  country, 
one  of  the  speakers,  exulting  over  what  had  ,been 
gained  by  them  through  special  appropriations  from 
the  ^ew  York  legislature,  said,  "  This  is  the  little  fin- 
ger, and  we  must  persevere  till  we  get  the  whole  hand." 


28  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

The  noted  papal  cliampion,  Father  Hecker,  predicts 
that  in  1900,  "  Kome  will  have  a  majority,  and  be 
bound  to  take  this  country  and  keep  it."  Also, 
"  there  is,  ere  long,  to  be  a  State  religion  in  this  coun- 
try ;  that  State  religion  is  to  be  the  Roman  Catholic." 
Again,  he  predicts  that  papacy  is  soon  to  rise  "  over 
the  grave  of  buried  Protestantism." 

"Within  a  quarter  of  a  century,  Romanists  have  in- 
creased in  this  country  from  four  per  cent,  of  the  pop- 
ulation to  twenty  per  cent.  Forty  years  ago  they 
numbered  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand;  thirty 
years  ago,  nine  hundred  thousand.  They  now  claim 
eight  millions.  They  have  seven  archbishops,  forty- 
one  bishops,  seventy-two  seminaries,  fourteen  hundred 
schools,  three  thousand  churches,  with  property  esti- 
mated at  forty  millions.  In  Kew  York  city  they  hold 
most  all  the  civil  offices,  municipal,  state  and  national. 
They  Lave  obtained  hundreds  of  thousands  in  subsi- 
dies for  their  schools,  and  millions  for  church  and 
charitable  foundations  from  the  city  government.  Of 
an  appropriation  of  two  hundred  and  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  made  to  schools,  most  of  which  were  sectarian, 
eighty  per  cent,  was  given  to  Roman  schools.  The 
acceptance  of  any  part  of  such  subsidy,  by  Protestants, 
is  made  a  cover  for  the  Grand  Conspiracy,  that  is  to 
make  the  schools  of  Kew  York  first,  and  then  in  other 
cities,  Roman  schools. 

If  the  stream  rises  as  high  as  the  fountain  —  the 
measure  to  the  purpose  —  our  school  system,  and  with 
it  our  Republic,  will  be  overthrown  ! 

The  prelates  instigating  this  movement  are  not  citi- 
zens, and  will  not  swear  allegiance  to  our  constitution 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  29 

and  laws  !  The  success  already  attained  .  in  jiTew 
York,  in  acquiring  hundreds  of  thousands  annually 
for  their  schools,  and  millions  for  permanent  church 
endowments,  may  well  encourage  them  to  expect  that 
an  ascendancy  Holland  wrested  from  the  Pope  through 
thirty  years  of  bloody  war,  and  retained  in  France  only 
after  bloody  revolutions,  and  now  withstood  in  Austria 
and  Spain,  may  be  easily  awarded,  and  with  countless 
millions  of  subsidies,  through  wary  use  of  balance  of 
political  power. 

Irreligion,  indifference,  ignorance,  are  sure  precur- 
sors of  Romish  triumphs.  And  she  divides  popula- 
tions into  skeptics  and  bigots  !  First  irreligion,  then 
superstition,  is  the  order  of  history.  Allow  religion 
deposed  from  the  public  school,  and  superstition  will 
be  installed  as  pedagogue,  and  become  minister  of 
pubKc  instruction. 

BEGINNING  OF  STRIFE. 

But  this  movement,  proposed  as  an  end  of  contro- 
versy, will  prove  to  be  the  beginning  of  strife.  Hav- 
ing already  interdicted  Bible,  Lord's  Prayer,  and 
devotional  song,  with  the  same  reason  it  may  revise 
school  readers,  compends  of  history,  text  books  of 
morals ;  and  at  leno^th  make  relio:ious  convictions  a 
disqualification  of  public  teacher.  Atheists  may 
demand  erasure  from  books  all  allusion  to  the  being 
and  attributes  of  a  God,  whose  existence  is  denied. 
Mohammedans  chancing  to  become  citizens  may 
require  the  removal  of  all  allusions  to  the  imposture  of 
Islam.     Pagans,  all  disparagement  of  idolatry. 

'No  better  illustration  can  be  given  of  the  shoals 
2'' 


30  THE   BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

towards  which  we  are  tending,  than  reference  to  the 
very  happy  wood-cut  found  in  Harper's  Weekly  edi- 
tion of  a  few  weeks  since.  There  we  have,  first,  a 
ring  of  happy  children  —  "  no  sect,"  "  no  caste  ;"  Chi- 
naman, African,  Irishman  —  representative  of  each 
nationality  —  the  merry  ring  join  happy  hands,  and 
"  union  forms  their  strength."  jN^ext  we  find  Justice, 
pictured  as  a  blinded  daughter  of  Erin,  distributing 
the  school  money  from  public  funds.  At  her  right 
the  rotund  priest  laughs  over  his  showering  bags  of 
gold,  in  which  he  stands  knee  deep  ;  while  at  her  left 
the  sorrowful  representative  of  our  public  schools  as 
they  have  been,  draws  only  blanks  and  empty  bags. 
Lastly,  we  have  the  wild,  chaotic  jumble  of  what  our 
public  schools  may  be  in  the  future.  The  African  has 
the  little  Chinaman  by  the  queue,  the  "  Paddy " 
reviles  the  scornful  Jew.  The  High  Churchman 
engages  the  Methodist  in  close  combat.  Every  child 
is  fighting,  and  the  street  is  lined  with  signs  of  sec- 
tarian schools  —  a  school  for  every  nationality  and 
every  creed.  In  opposing  re-establishment  of  priestly 
control  of  schools,  Victor  Hugo  says  :  "  Ah,  we  know 
you  !  We  know  the  clerical  party.  It  is  an  old  party. 
This  it  is,  which  has  found  for  the  truth  those  two 
marvelous  supporters,  ignorance  and  error  !  This  it 
is,  which  forbids  to  science  and  genius  the  going  be- 
yond the  Missal,  and  which  wishes  to  cloister  thought 
in  dogmas.  Every  step  which  the  intelligence  of 
Europe  has  taken,  has  been  in  spite  of  it.  Its  history 
is  written  in  the  history  of  human  progress,  but  it  is 
written  on  the  back  of  the  leaf,  It  is  opposed  to  it  all. 
This  it  is,  which  caused  Prinelli  to  be  scourged  for 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  31 

having  said  that  the  stars  would  not  fall.  This  it  is, 
which  put  Campanella  seven  times  to  the  torture,  for 
having  affirmed  that  the  number  of  worlds  was  infin- 
ite, and  for  having  caught  a  glimpse  at  the  secret  of 
creation.  This  it  is,  which  persecuted  Harvey  for 
having  proved  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  In  the 
name  of  Jesus,  it  shut  up  Gahleo.  In  the  name  of  St. 
Paul,  it  imprisoned  Christopher  Columbus.  To  dis- 
cover a  law  of  the  heavens  was  an  impiety.  To  find  a 
world  was  a  heresy.  This  it  is  which  anathematized 
Pascal  in  the  name  of  religion,  Montaigne  in  the  name 
of  morality,  Moliere  in  the  name  of  both  morality  and 
religion.  .  .  .  For  a  long  time  already  the  human 
conscience  has  revolted  against  you,  and  now  demands 
of  you,  '  What  is  it  that  you  wish  of  me  ? '  For  a  long 
time  already  you  have  tried  to  put  a  gag  upon  the 
human  intellect.  You  wish  to  be  the  masters  of  edu- 
cation. And  there  is  not  a  poet,  not  an  author,  not  a 
philosopher,  not  a  thinker,  that  you  accept.  All  that 
has  been  wi*itten,  found,  dreamed,  deduced,  inspired, 
imagined,  invented  by  genius,  the  treasure  of  civiliza- 
tion, the  venerable  inheritance  of  generations,  the 
common  patrimony  of  knowledge,  you  reject. 

"  There  is  a  book  —  a  book  which  is,  from  one  end 
to  the  other,  an  emanation  from  above  —  a  book  which 
is  for  the  whole  world  what  the  Koran  is  for  Islamism, 
w^hat  the  Yedas  are  for  India  —  a  book  which  contains 
all  human  wisdom,  illuminated  by  all  divine  wisdom 
■ —  a  book  which  the  veneration  of  the  people  call  The 
Booh  —  the  Bible !  Well,  your  censure  has  reached 
even  that.  Unheard-of  thing !  Popes  have  proscribed 
the   Bible !     How   astonishing  to   wise   spirits,  how 


32  THE   BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

overpowering  to  simple  hearts,  to  see  the  finger  of 
Kome  placed  upon  the  Book  of  God  ! 

"  And  you  claim  the  liberty  of  teaching.  Stop  ;  be 
sincere;  let  us  understand  the  liberty  which  you 
claim.  It  is  the  liberty  of  not  teaching.  You  wish 
us  to  give  you  the  people  to  instruct.  Yery  well.  Let 
us  see  your  pupils  !  Let  .us  see  those  you  have  pro- 
duced. What  have  you  done  for  Italy  ?  What  have 
you  done  for  Spain?  For  centuries  you  have  kept  in 
your  hands,  at  yotr  discretion,  at  your  school,  these 
two  great  nations,  illustrious  among  the  illustrious. 
What  have  you  done  for  them  ?  I  am  going  to  tell 
you.  Thanks  to  you,  Italy,  whose  name  no  man,  who 
thinks,  can  any  longer  pronounce  without  an  inexpres- 
sible filial  emotion  ;  Italy,  mother  of  genius  and  of 
nations,  which  has  spread  over  the  universe  all  the 
most  brilliant  marvels  of  poetry  and  the  arts  ;  Italy, 
which  has  taught  mankind  to  read,  now  knows  not 
how  to  read  !  Yes,  Italy  is,  of  aU  the  states  of  Europe, 
that  where  the  smallest  number  of  natives  know  how 
to  read. 

"  Spain,  magnificently  endowed  ;  Spain,  which  re- 
ceived from  the  Romans  her  first  civilization,  from  the 
Arabs  her  second  civilization,  from  Providence,  and  in 
spite  of  you,  a  world,  America ;  Spain,  thanks  to  you, 
to  your  yoke  of  stupor,  which  is  a  yoke  of  degrada- 
tion and  decay,  Spain  has  lost  this  secret  power,  which 
it  had  from  the  Komans ;'  this  genius  of  art,  which  it 
had  from  the  Arabs ;  this  world,  which  it  had  from 
God  ;  and  in  exchange  for  all  that  you  have  made  it 
lose,  it  has  received  from  you  —  the  Inquisition. 

"  The  Inquisition,  which  certain  men  of  the  party 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  33 

try  to-daj  to  re-establish,  which  has  burned  on  the 
funeral  pile  millions  of  men ;  the  Inquisition,  which 
disinterred  the  dead  to  burn  them  as  heretics  ;  which 
declared  the  children  of  heretics,  even  to  the  second 
generation,  infamous  and  incapable  of  any  public 
honors,  excepting  only  those  who  shall  have  denounced 
their  fathers ;  the  Inquisition,  which,  while  I  speak, 
still  holds  in  the  Papal  library  the  manuscripts  of 
Galileo,  sealed  under  the  Papal  signet !  These  are 
your  masterpieces.  This  fire,  which  we  caU  Italy,  you 
have  extinguished.  This  colossus,  that  we  caU  Spain, 
you  have  undermined.  The  one  in  ashes,  the  other  in 
ruins.  This  is  what  you  have  done  for  two  great  na- 
tions.    What  do  you  wish  to  do  for  France  ? 

"  Stop  ;  you  have  just  come  from  Rome  !  I  con- 
gratulate you.  You  have  had  fine  success  there.  You 
come  from  gagging  the  Roman  people  ;  now  you  wish 
to  gag  the  French  people,  I  understand.  This  attempt 
is  still  more  fine ;  but  take  care ;  it  is  dangerous. 
France  is  a  lion,  and  is  alive !" 

Shall  a  Frenchman  thus  speak  in  France,  and  we 
be  silent?  Shall  one,  brought  up  amid  Papal  influ- 
ences, see  so  clearly  the  withering  power  of  Romish 
education,  and  any  person  in  this  land  of  gospel  light 
be  blind  to  it  ? 

SURRENDER    OF   PRINCIPLE. 

Does  any  one  imagine  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  schools 
an  indifferent  service,  from  the  brevity  of  its  lessons  ; 
and  therefore  its  entire  removal  from  the  programme 
of  the  school  would  be  an  inappreciable  loss  ?  As 
well  declare  use  of  the  constitution  and  flag  of  the 


34  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

country  is  ceremonial,  and  therefore  of  little  impor- 
tance. The  constitution  is  never  read  before  all 
assembled  citizens.  It  is  never  read  at  length  before 
courts.  It  is  not  found  in  all,  even  public  libraries. 
It  is  not  in  the  house  of  one  citizen  in  ten  thousand. 
Yet  the  constitution,  with  silent,  mighty,  perpetual 
force  of  gravitation,  controls  general  and  state  gov- 
ernments, presides  over  courts,  shapes  all  political 
usage,  and  rules  all  classes.  The  recognized  Bible, 
though  not  obtruded  before  the  people  on  all  occa- 
sions, or  occupying  large  portions  of  the  time  of  fam- 
ily, school,  or  State,  may  be  a  greater  power  over 
conscience,  moral  sense,  individual  and  national  char- 
acter, social  and  political  destiny. 

The  stars  and  stripes  do  not  wave  all  the  time,  over 
all  towns,  villages,  and  private  dwellings ;  but  is  it 
any  less  the  symbol  of  authority  —  pledging  the 
power  of  the  government,  and  the  devotion  and  loy- 
alty of  the  people  ?  As  that  flag,  whether  waving 
over  State-house,  borne  before  armies,  or  streaming 
from  ships  in  a  foreign  port,  stirs  the  heart  and 
assures  the  devotion  of  every  American  citizen,  so  the 
Bible,  in  family,  church,  or  school,  is  the  symbol  of  a 
holier  faith,  pledges  a  more  heroic  devotion.  The 
soul's  glance  heavenward,  in  spiritual  homage,  prom- 
ises nobler  education  and  manhood,  than  elaborate  text 
books,  when  divorced  from  religious  sentiment  and 
sanction  !  If  this  be  surrendered.  Religion  is  surren- 
dered. Concession  will  be  vain !  The  pursuing 
Cerberus,  with  appetite  whetted  by  each  sop  thrown 
to  him,  will  never  be  satisfied  till  he  has  devoured  our 
free  schools  and  our  free  institutions ! 


THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS.  35 

The  beleaguering  forces,  Atheism,  Kationalism  and 
Komanism,  now  assailing  the  Republic  at  its  vital 
centre,  in  its  education,  are  a  more  formidable  foe  than 
the  Yandal  hordes  that  overthrew  ancient  Rome.  As 
Herod  and  Pilate  harmonized  in  counsel  against 
Christ,  so  these  life-long  foes  unite  to  overthrow  the 
institutions  of  the  Republic.  They  agree  in  false  de- 
finitions of  liberty  and  religion,  that  they  may  subvert 
them.  They  assert  an  ultimate  right  of  individual 
conscience,  that  makes  social  or  civil  law  or  order 
impossible !  They  make  sense  of  duty,  devotion  of 
loyalty  impossible,  by  subverting  their  standard,  and 
repressing  their  enthusiasm ! 

If,  then,  the  objections  to  our  school  system  are  so 
fallacious  and  unfounded,  and  the  recognition  of  the 
Bible  in  public  education  be  required  from  the  great 
moral  traditions  of  the  Republic,  from  the  association 
of  religious  ideas  and  sanctions  with  all  the  school 
systems  of  the  world,  from  the  fact  that  Christianity, 
as  part  of  the  common  law,  should  constitute  a  part  of 
the  common  education,  and  also  from  the  necessary, 
vital,  and  formative  relation  of  religion  to  all  complete 
education,  let  the  American  people  unite  in  defending 
and  perpetuating  our  public  schools.  Surpassing  all 
others  in  munificence  of  provision,  completeness  of 
appointments,  competency  of  teachers ;  a  mighty 
power  in  developing  true  manhood  ;  the  most  potent 
agent  in  assimilating  diverse  nationalities  into  one 
homogeneous  citizenship  —  shall  it  be  destroyed  ? 

That  is  a  touching  song  that  bids  the  unthinking, 
unsentimental  woodman  spare  the  roof-tree  of  the  old 
homestead,  planted  and  watered  by  the  hand  of  fore- 


36  THE    BIBLE    IN    SCHOOLS. 

fathers  sleeping  hard  by  in  tlie  ancestral  graveyard. 
In  holier  and  more  earnest  expostulation,  we  entreat 
the  political  innovator,  inspired  by  neither  faith  nor 
sentiment,  to  spare  onr  American  school  system, 
planted  by  our  fathers,  and  watered  by  their  blood, 
sheltering  all  human  rights,  fostering  the  best  civiliza- 
tion, guarding  the  most  beneficent  institutions,  and 
moulding  diverse  nationalities  into  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  virtuous  citizenship  in  the  world ! 


CttuRCti,  GdobMAN  &  boNNfeLLltY,  Printers. 


[ 


g^ 


